A Gig Worth Mentioning

The Bastards of Young show was off the hook. Earlier in the evening I assembled the F# harmonica that I had used when we recorded their hit song Earthquake Weather. It’s a custom Hohner Marine Band with Special 20 cover plates made for me by Randy Sandoval at Genesis Harmonicas. AKA – Freaky Francine. Yes, all of my harmonicas have women’s names.

I rolled out to the show at 8pm, destination – Luigi’s Fun Garden. Luigi’s is pizza shop in midtown Sacramento that seems to be a popular pickup joint for the local youth scene after dark. The parlor shares a wall with an equally sized room to the right where they host local bands.

Immediately upon arrival I realized that the punk band scene is considerably younger than I am………considerably younger. Nevertheless, I was itching for the band to ask me on stage with them. I haven’t really whaled in front of a crowd since my last gig with Black Cat Bone and the local church gigs I’ve been playing don’t quite scratch hard enough.

Shure enough they asked me up with them for Earthquake Weather as the final song, and we brought the house down. What a Rush! When your still on stage and the crowd is holding out their hands for high fives from down below, it’s a really good feeling. I walked away that night with a full-size LP of the album, a cassette tape, a tee shirt and a great memory.

My final thoughts of the evening are this:

Even though I only played a twelve second solo on one song from their album, Bastards of Young has given me a tangible album that I can be proud of. After the crappy home recording that I’ve done with so many other bands, it feels incredibly satisfying to be a part of something that is legit.